US community in shock after school shooting rampage

AFP, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

The tight-knit Korean American community in Oakland, California, was in shock yesterday after one of their own allegedly carried out a brutal shooting rampage at a religious college, killing seven people.

The latest US school shooting unfolded on Monday at a Christian college near San Francisco, when a former student allegedly shot someone at point-blank range in the chest before spraying a classroom with bullets.

The suspect — a local ethnic Korean who surrendered soon after the attacks at Oikos University in East Oakland, was described by a witness as looking “crazy” as he went on a shooting spree across the small campus.

Police — who arrived on the scene after a string of panicked emergency calls — did not immediately say what type of firearm the gunman used, or if he had multiple weapons.

About 35 people were in or near the building at the time. Of those, 10 were hit and five were pronounced dead at the scene. Two others died later in hospital. Survivors were found hiding in locked and darkened rooms.